Citizens to send tea bags to White House in protest of stimulus money

Published 7:00 pm, Sunday, March 29, 2009

If participants in one grassroots movement get their way, President Barack Obama will have a multitude of tea flavors to choose from Wednesday morning.

The thousands of tea bags they hope arrive on the doorstep - or, what they admit will more likely be a mailbox surrounded by security - aren't meant as a gift, though. The envelopes of Earl Grey or Sleepytime herb tea bags are instead a symbol of their displeasure with the Obama administration's fiscal decisions thus far. Specifically, the groups are in protest of earmarks that were passed as part of Obama's budget and of the trillions being distributed as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, also known as the stimulus package.

"A lot of people are angry about what's going on," said Midland County Republican Women President Karen Hood.

Individuals involved with the Midland County Republican Women will be sending their tea bags along with thousands of others nationwide who have pledged through Web sites and blogs to support the effort.

This and various rallies occurring around the country since February are meant to be a resurgence of sorts of the Boston Tea Party, which took place Dec. 16, 1773 when citizens protested Britain's taxing of tea in a way that left American tea vendors at a disadvantage, according to the Boston Tea Party Historical Society.

The tea tax came after a series of other moves by Parliament, the Massachusetts House of Representatives deemed taxation without representation they said gave them reason to ask for a unified resistance of Parliament from all of the colonies, according to the Historical Society.

Hood said Midlanders participating in the mass tea mail-in feel helpless as decisions continue to be made at the federal level and are simply doing whatever they can to be heard.

Some groups are telling individuals to send the tea bags with a letter signed "registered voter" that expresses displeasure with stimulus spending and earmarks. Midland County Republican Women were asked simply to send the tea bag and let it speak for itself.

Radio Station KWEL-AM is also sponsoring a pro-American rally April 18 that will allow locals to vent their frustrations about these topics.

Station owner Craig Anderson said they decided to sponsor the event after seeing government spending, taxing and other moves he said are bringing the country closer to socialism.

"We're just pretty tired of that," Anderson said.

Similar rallies organized as part of the New American Tea Party, which is a grassroots organization that its founders say works to protest "fiscal recklessness," have already taken place in Washington, Florida, Nebraska, Illinois and other states, according to its Web site. They're working to organize additional rallies on April 15.

Anderson said they were aiming for a tax day rally as well but moved it to be more convenient for locals.

The tea bag initiative also has been credited to the New American Tea Party. However, statements from founders of the group say while they think it's an innovative idea it's not one they started because they fear the tea bags will be thrown away or held up in security instead of ever reaching Obama's desk.